I won’t have the results table up until Monday because I left my thumbstick at work (I had to call in sick yesterday), but suffice to say we all got our asses kicked pretty badly.

NYR, WAS, WAS, NYR, WAS, WAS, [***].

It’s funny: the series I thought was a coin-flip wound up being the first sweep of the year, while the series I figured were no-brainers wound up going the exact opposite direction we all predicted. It really has been the Playoffs of Goaltending, more so than usual.

And I agree about the comparison to the ’06 Oilers: both teams made late-season trades to address glaring needs (the Oilers needed goaltending; the Kings needed more scoring and to get rid of the black hole that is Jack Johnson) and finally started living up to the potential of their rosters at just the right time, making them 8th seeds based on things that are no longer true. I thought LA would be better than 8th at the start of the year, but they’re still playing far better than I could have imagined.

That said, I kind of thought at the start of the LA-STL series that whichever team made it out would probably win the West, and very likely the Stanley Cup too, and I’m still leaning pretty strongly that way. Unless LA goes back to shooting 7% like they did in the regular season, I can’t see how Phoenix or whichever team comes out of the East (probably New York) beats them. I mean yeah, they both have hot goalies, but so does LA, so that’s a wash as far as I’m concerned. And the way LA dominated St. Louis? Yeah, if I’m an Eastern contender, I want no part of the Kings. Not to tip my hand on predictions or anything.

As for the East, thanks for coming out, Bryzgoalov, and thanks for getting your dumb ass suspended for the elimination game, Giroux. Not that I figured Philly was going to beat New York (or hell, Washington at this point) any more than I think New Jersey will, but still.